President Donald Trump’s position on tariffs might be the most controversial of his policies across the board, particularly among conservatives.

Take the editorial board of National Review, the great grandaddy of all conservative publications. In a March 7 missive titled “Tariff Mania,” the board said that Trump’s tariffs on Canada, China, Europe and Mexico were “inspired by a vision of Gilded Age protectionism with little resemblance to historical reality” that “will deepen the swamp he once undertook to drain.”

Particularly hurt, the board said, would be carmakers: “Concerns over tariffs are already damaging the economy and will add to automakers’ woes. One reason for the pause was to enable Ford, GM, and Stellantis to move some supply lines into this country (in a month?). Overall, however, car manufacturers are likely to be investing less, not more, in the U.S. Uncertainty encourages consumers and companies to cut back, not spend (consumer confidence fell by the most in nearly four years last month).”

Democrats, meanwhile, have started pretending that they care about high costs for American consumers after four years of pretending the economy was fantastic. Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, for instance, said that tariffs were “a tool, just like fire” and warned that the Trump administration was akin to a kid playing with matches, according to Politico. “You can barbecue with it, or you can burn your house down, depending on how you use it,” she said.

The left-wing outlet noted that it’s somewhat harder for the Democrats to outright oppose tariffs, noting that the party is “[d]esperate to win back working-class voters” and “are loath to criticize Trump’s protectionist policies and risk the ire of their blue-collar base” — but their messaging has shifted to inflation and ties with our allies.

The president should be focused on making life easier for American families, not harder. A trade war with Canada and Mexico will do the exact opposite, raising prices at the grocery store, gas pump and more.

We’re going to keep speaking up for what’s right. You should too. https://t.co/5VgSYOeFqD

— Andy Beshear (@AndyBeshearKY) March 6, 2025

Never mind the curiosity of the Democrats suddenly being massively alarmed about the dangers of inflation after pretending we’d never had it so good for so long. As it turns out, we can already see the long-term effects of Trump’s economic policies beginning to take shape — and they’re not nearly as bad as alarmists would have you believe.

In the month of March alone, consider the four industrial giants — chipmakers Nvidia and TSMC, pharma conglomerate Johnson & Johnson, and automaker Hyundai — that made splashy announcements about the hundreds of billions of dollars they were pouring into U.S. manufacturing.

Nvidia — which is considered the foremost AI processor manufacturer and was described by the White House in a news release as “the world’s undisputed leader in chipmaking” — announced it was investing “hundreds of billions of dollars over the next four years” to boost its U.S. manufacturing footprint.

As the White House put it in the March 20 release, this was “part of the manufacturing renaissance under President Donald J. Trump as he solidifies the U.S. as the global leader in artificial intelligence.”

“Having the support of an administration who cares about the success of this industry and not allowing energy to be an obstacle is a phenomenal result for AI in the U.S.,” CEO Jensen Huang said in a quote pulled from the release.

Axios — no friend to the Trump administration’s plans as a general rule — said that this was evidence that Nvidia “is tilting its supply chain back from Asia” and that it was “another win for President Trump’s push to increase U.S. manufacturing.”

“Overall, we will procure, over the course of the next four years, probably half a trillion dollars’ worth of electronics in total,” Huang said. “[W]e can easily see ourselves manufacturing several hundred billion of it here in the U.S.”

While the investment from TSMC may end up being smaller — $165 billion, according to a media release from the company on March 4 — it could be an even bigger sign of the times.

Nvidia, while it has much of its chipmaking supply chain in Asia, is an American corporation; TSMC is Taiwanese. Yet, it too “announced its intention to expand its investment in advanced semiconductor manufacturing in the United States by an additional $100 billion.”

“Back in 2020, thanks to President Trump’s vision and support, we embarked on our journey of establishing advanced chip manufacturing in the United States. This vision is now a reality,” said C.C. Wei, chairman and CEO of the Taiwanese chip giant.

“AI is reshaping our daily lives and semiconductor technology is the foundation for new capabilities and applications. With the success of our first fab in Arizona, along with needed government support and strong customer partnerships, we intend to expand our U.S. semiconductor manufacturing investment by an additional $100 billion, bringing our total planned investment to $165 billion.”

On March 21, meanwhile, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson announced “technology investments of more than $55 billion in the United States over the next four years.”

“Today’s announcements accelerate our nearly 140-year legacy as an American innovation engine tackling the world’s toughest healthcare challenges,” CEO and chairman Joaquin Duato said.

“Our increased U.S. investment begins with the ground-breaking of a high-tech facility in North Carolina that will not only add U.S.-based jobs but manufacture cutting edge medicines to treat patients in America and around the world.”

The company’s new facility in Wilson, North Carolina will “[s]upport approximately 5,000 jobs during construction and create over 500 positions in North Carolina” and “[c]reate a $3 billion impact across the state in the first 10 years of operations,” according to the company.

And speaking of automakers, Hyundai’s “significant investment of USD 21 billion in the United States from 2025 to 2028” was announced four days later, on March 24.

“Hyundai Motor Group is deepening its partnership with the United States, reinforcing our shared vision for American industrial leadership,” the Korean automaker said in a statement.

“The group’s investment and efforts will further expand our operations in the U.S. and grow our American workforce. Thank you to our American partners, employees, and communities. We’re proud to stand with you, and proud to build the future together.”

The plan includes $6 billion to strengthen the supply chain of components in America — including EV components, marking a significant strategic shift away from China, which has been trying to win the supply chain war on electric vehicle materials and parts.

And this is just March. In February, the big-ticket item was Apple announcing a $500 billion investment in American-based manufacturing and development.

“We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.

“From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing. And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.”

Meanwhile, ChatGPT developer OpenAI also announced in February that it too could invest up to $500 billion in “large-scale data centers and the energy generation needed to further AI development,” according to the Associated Press.

At the time of the announcement, President Trump said that it was a “resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential.”

Now, are there downsides to tariffs? You likely don’t need me to tell you that there are — but we shouldn’t pretend that there aren’t upsides, either.

The COVID pandemic alone proved how fragile our outsourced supply chains are, and that’s with a mostly friendly government in Beijing. Considering that China poses the single greatest threat to America’s position as economic and military hegemon of the free world, we ought to consider what will happen when — not if — the CCP turns unfriendly.

Furthermore, there’s no long-term mission more critical for this president’s trade policies than ensuring the presence of good-paying, stable American jobs, for both the country’s economic and spiritual well-being. If this isn’t a sign that we’re moving in the right direction, I don’t know what is.

A lot more moving needs to be done, it should be noted. But we should neither ignore the wins nor give into the impulse to cease moving where we need to be because of the griping of free-trade absolutists or Democrats suddenly wracked with concerns about inflation. Putting America first means putting American jobs and America’s future first, not continuing a series of short-term compromises that are self-defeating when carried out in perpetuity.

“The list of manufacturing wins is endless,” the White House said in its Nvidia media release. One can only hope.

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